M. De Vanna, D. Carlino, E. Aguglia - Vol. 11, March 2005, Issue 1 - summary
Testo Bibliografia Summary Indice
Aspetti concettuali ed Interpretativi dell’Insight
nella Malattia di Alzheimer
Conceptual and Interpretative Aspects of Insight in Alzheimer’s Disease
Lack of awareness of their impairments and insight into illness cause many difficult problems when taking care of the patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
The nature of unawareness of cognitive deficits appeared to be more dimensional than categorical.
Varying methodologies have been employed to examine the neuropsychological correlates of insight and anosognosia in Alzheimer’s disease.
In this article, the authors analyse the literature on the psychopathological relationship of decreased awareness in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and in the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease that appeared to be more related to affective disturbances, especially emotional deficit or apathy, than to cognitive deficits.
Furtheremore, there have been markedly discrepant results with severity of disease, extent of memory deficit and dysexecutive syndrome.
There is an extensive literature emphasising biological explanations involving the frontal lobe. The prefrontal cortex seems to display a role of "monitoring center" of normal functioning of memory circuits.
These hypotheses agree only with the cognitive model of awareness in Alzheimer’s disease formulate by Agnew and Morris.
Understanding more about anosognosia in Alzheimer's disease may therefore be an important component in finding ways to improve the care and support offered to the patients and their families.